The world is ending, and Kate can't watch.
Her eyes squeeze shut as Sawyer shoots a helpless glance between her and Juliet. Jack's gaze keeps drilling into her, she can feel it just like the gun in her hand, rooting her to the ground. She nods, her face hot and a tear dripping down.
She knows it's the right thing to do, but she can't watch as it ends.
The faintest noise reaches her ears, metal brushing past flesh. She resists the urge to scream. The bomb plummets from his fingers. It will be gone in seconds.
One, she thinks. It will work, it has to.
Two. Back to the beginning, the plane where it all started.
Three. Will they recognize each other? Will he blurt out her name, suddenly remember how her lips feel against his, just for a fleeting moment?
Four. It'll be like it was all a dream. Memories of death and love and Others will be gone. They'll leave the plane, lonely and handcuffed and funeral-dressed, and they'll go on without each other.
Five. Another tear slides out. There's so much she wants to say to him, but there's no time left—
Her eyes snap open, and they are all posed as they were, ears ringing in the silence of an undetonated bomb. She sees the fear in his face and knows it's reflected in hers.
The gun is suddenly tugged from her hand, as wrenches and hammers rattle past her feet. She has an instantaneous thought to cover her eyes and count back from five again, but all hell breaks loose as the energy pulls them forward.
The world is ending, and Kate can't stop watching.